The Boy and His Fire
by GwennielOfNargothrond
Summary: Aegnor Aikanaro has a strange fascination in fire and pyrotechnics, much to the annoyance of his family who fear he might spend too much time with some of his cousins.


**_Before you read this, you might want to be aware of the following facts that inspired me to write this story:_**

_- in one early version of the Silmarillion, Angrod, Aegnor and Orodreth, too) were so close to Celegorm and Curufin that they actually were allowed to sail to Middle-Earth with the stolen ships, rather than coss the treacherous glacier in the North. (Ref: The Shaping of Middle-Earth, HoME)_

_- Aegnor's Quenyan name Aikanáro means Fell Fire. I interpreted that as his interest in fire, though of course it probably just refers to his fiery mood in battle. _

_- Quenyan names that you'll need to know for this fic:_

Aikanáro Ambaráto = Aegnor  
>Arafinwë = Finarfin<br>Angamaitë = Angrod  
>Artaresto = Orodreth<br>Findaráto = Finrod

Tyelkormo = Celegorm  
>Curufinwë Atarinkë = Curufin <em>(as opposed to<em> Curufinwë Fëanáro_, his father)_  
>Carnistir = Caranthir<br>Maitimo = Maedhros  
>Macalaurë = Maglor<p>

Irissë = Aredhel  
>Findekáno = Fingon<br>Turukáno = Turgon  
>Nolofinwë = Fingolfin<p>

_Note that_ úrë _is a Quenyan word that means heat_

* * *

><p><strong><span>The Boy and His Fire<span>**

The fact that Curufinwë Fëanáro couldn't stand his half-brothers was widely known. It was a rare occurrence that peace would last longer than a few minutes if they were forced to be in the same room. This, however, did not change the fact that the sons of Fëanaro were always eager to make friends with their half-cousins. It didn't take long for Findekáno to become inseparable friends with the eldest son of Fëanáro, and neither was it any surprising that the two of then along with Maitimo's brother Macalaurë and Findaráto son of Arafinwë were soon a group that always went together. This was the case with the oldest cousins.  
>Arafinwë didn't mind his sons befriending cousins who did not set a bad example for them, but when it became apparent that Tyelkormo and Atarinkë were "trying to corrupt" his youngest sons, he should have become more suspicious.<br>Ever since Angamaitë celebrated his tenth begetting day, Tyelkormo and Curufinwë Atarinkë (Curufinwë junior) wanted to make friends with him, and soon they even let Angamaitë's baby-brother join their games. It was all very fun, because little Aikanáro sat observing as the others played and was quite content with that. Tyelkormo was also pleased, because all the other elflings were much younger than him and did not question his authority as the leader of the pack. The only person who openly announced his annoyance was Carnistir; the poor boy didn't approve of that the brothers who were closest to the same age as himself spending more time with the "stupid sons of Arafinwë" as he put it and ignored him instead. Nobody cared about Carnistir, though, which was probably what resulted in his later dislike of the Arafinwioni.

Tyelkormo's little group in which he was the leader and Atarinkë his sidekick prospered. At the time when even their cousin Irissë joined the group, they were already known to be the young trouble makers who caused minor mayhem at all events. But it still took quite some time before Arafinwë actually realised he, in fact, should worry about it.

.

Aikanáro was about twenty years at the time. He was wandering in the corridors of their big home, a lantern swinging in his grip. He smiled widely as his big brother Artaresto approached him in the hallway.

"Where are you going?" the big brother asked the young one. "We are supposed to be cleaning our rooms."

Aikanáro wondered why his brother was wandering in the hallway himself, if that was indeed the case, but just replied: "I'm taking Lord Úrë for a walk."

"Lord Úrë?" Resto asked suspiciously. All he could see was a small lantern with a bright shine in it... "Aikanáro, you are not going to let that fire spread, are you?" he said, his voice alarmed.

"Only for a while. He'll come back to me then," Aikanáro said calmly and patted the small lantern.

"You better be kidding..." his brother said and looked at the lantern in horror. "Why is the flame green?"

"It's burning copper," the little one said brightly. "Curufinwë (Atarinkë) gave it to me as a pet flame, because my name means Fell Fire. He said I am going to become the greatest pyrotechnician in all Valinor-"

Resto didn't want to know how come his brother knew such words as 'pyrotechnician'. He turned and ran away trying to find their parents.

.

Lord Úrë was crawling on the ground, wandering on a path his master had prepared for him. His master sat beside him, feeding him with sticks and pine cones, looking after him and warning him of that he'd be forced back to captivity of the lantern within a few minutes, but that he'd get out to play again tomorrow. Their playtime was interrupted soon, though, as hurried steps approached the secluded spot they were sitting in.

"Ambaráto Aikanáro, you put out that flame this instant!" Arafinwë bellowed at his son, who cringed as he fumbled for the steel lantern on the floor beside him. He ushered his friend back into the lantern mumbling under his breath. "It's out, it's out, I promise!" he cried.

Behind his husband stood Eärwen, looking at his youngest son with mixed pity, sadness and disappointment. Behind her stood Resto looking worried and glancing at his father and mother.

"So this is your friend," Eärwen said gently, kneeling beside her son who nodded without a word.

_My son's imaginary friend was all along an Eru-forsaken piece of burning copper?_ The thought flickered through Arafinwë's brain before he shook it off. "Do you have any idea of how dangerous that is? You are not one of Aulë's Maiar," he said.

"But he really does obey me!" the child insisted shyly, referring to Lord Úrë. "It's very tame. Look; it never left its route." It was true. The flame had burnt a path on the ground, but it was of the shape of a star, and nothing outside the picture had been damaged. "And its house," Aikanáro went on, showing his parents and brother the lantern, "is especially designed for this, because the steel it its made of has a higher smelting point than copper..."

"How do you even know all this, dear?" his mother asked him concerned. "It certainly isn't matters that are included in your studying." But Resto clenched his fists.

"You spend too much time with Tyelkormo and Curufinwë!" he said, pointing an accusing finger at his brother. "You and Angamaitë. What else have they taught you?"

Aikanáro stared at them in fear, but under his fathers stern eyes, he looked down and spoke up.

.

Angamaitë didn't play with fire, because he didn't like it and couldn't really control it either. When the five cousins were together, he generally just play-fighted with Tyelkormo. As both had names that referred to their strength, they had an ongoing competitive game. Irissë usually was the audience or worked as a referee at these fights. She was in her element only when Tyelkormo took the group to a hunting trip to the woods. Generally she was content with just talking with her cousins as they... (here Aikanáro's voice faltered) ...planned pranks. Aikanáro himself usually sat with Curufinwë since the latter had, thanks to of his father, an immense knowledge of metals. Aikanáro wasn't interested in smith-work, but he liked hearing about what happened when two elements met. In fact, the small explosion that had scared some of the guests at Turukáno's begetting day last year... (it took a while before they could make him tell this) ...was a "work of fire", as they called it, that Aikanáro had designed with the help of Curufinwë. It had been so easy for Curufinwë to get the materials from Fëanáro's stash.

Arafinwë wasn't sure what he should do or think. His son, an aspiring pyrotechnician was risking both his life and their home every time he played with his imaginary friend, which was basically all the time he wasn't studying or playing with his cousins who taught him dangerous things.

It wasn't easy for Aikanáro and Angamaitë to convince that they should still be allowed to meet their friends. Irissë they were bound to meet, because her family dined with Arafinwë's several times a week. She brought tidings of what she and the two sons of Fëanáro had been up to and what they were planning to do. Luckily for her, Nolofinwë hadn't decided that Tyelkormo and Curufinwë were bad company for her daughter, so the two boys were still as close to her as ever.

.

It wasn't until they were almost adults that Aikanáro and Angamaitë could join their friends again. Times had changed. Angamaitë had had less bruises to hide beneath his clothes when he hadn't been wrestling with Tyelkormo, but Aikanáro had often gotten in trouble for burning up something. Aikanáro Fell-fire had in time let go of his friend Lord Úrë, but was still sometimes found playing with a small flame tickling the palm of his hand. To be fair, it was about only once in every twenty experiments that his curiosity resulted in an inferno, but it was apparently still all too often.

However, eventually the "Five-Elf Band" was back together. They spent their days roaming the streets of Tirion or the woods outside it, but at least they are now more civilised than they used to be, Arafinwë thought one evening as he was lying in his bed. _Maybe they will soon settle down, each to their own, maybe start a family and learn to take responsibility_, he mused to himself. Eärwen was sitting in the bed next to him reading a book, the light of the Silver Tree shone into the bedroom through the curtains. After a long day, Arafinwë was finally ready to fall asleep. And soon he did.

His rude wake-up occurred only a few minutes later. Noises from the yard outside the bedroom window entered his sleep, and he turned beneath his blankets. Eärwen looked up from her book. There was whispering, there was giggling, there was a noise of something being scraped against a stone. Then there was a loud squeal of something unearthly, followed by a bang and a thousand stars. The people that were standing outside gave exclamations such as "ooh" and "aha", when the sky became brighter than it ever should during the blooming of Telperion the Silver Tree, when the city was sleeping. The crowd outside cheered as a proud voice announced: "That was what I like to call 'Fire of Varda In the Sky'."

Arafinwë's eyes widened. "Aikanáro!" he roared as he sprang up from his bed. Eärwen smiled silently at her husband. As if their children would ever truly change.


End file.
